Ex-Klansman's gay son to challenge conservative Dem

Erich Bishop, left, declares his candidacy Thursday for the 102nd District spot currently held by Hutchinson Democrat Jan Pauls.

About 60 people gather outside the Statehouse for a gay-rights rally Thursday.

Erich Bishop's voice cracked as he began to tell a small crowd of gay-rights advocates gathered outside the Statehouse about his father Thursday.

Bishop gathered himself and offered what was clearly a difficult glimpse into his childhood.

"My father is a former member of the Ku Klux Klan," he said. "To call my household as a child racist and homophobic would be an understatement. My father rightly faced opposition from people like you."

Bishop was speaking at a rally against a bill that gay-rights advocates fear will sanction discrimination against them under the guise of religious freedom. He also was announcing that he plans to challenge one of the chief proponents of the bill, House Democratic Rep. Jan Pauls, of Hutchinson, in August's primary election.

He is a 28-year-old openly gay man who spent much of his adult life working as a certified nursing assistant before earning a philosophy degree from The University of Kansas, where he graduated with high honors this past May.

Pauls is a lawyer who has been in the Legislature for 20 years and, while reliably Democratic on fiscal issues, has been as right-wing as any of her Republican colleagues on social issues. She has championed a bill this session to protect the state from Islamic law, or sharia, and the bill that was the focus of Thursday's rally.

That bill, SB 142, seeks to prevent government from burdening an individual's exercise of religion unless there is a compelling governmental interest. Proponents like Pauls and Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, have said it is about ensuring religious freedom. Some have said it is necessary to protect against intrusions like mandatory contraception coverage recently proposed by the Obama administration.

But Thomas Witt, of the Kansas Equality Coalition, strongly disagreed, telling those at Thursday's rally that the bill is about undermining local ordinances, such as one in Lawrence that prohibits landlords and businesses from discriminating based on sexual orientation.

Kinzer, speaking in favor of the bill on the House floor a month ago, used an anecdote about a New Mexico wedding photographer who was sued for refusing to snap pictures of a same-sex wedding.

Pauls, who didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment, has run afoul of the KEC on a number of occasions, including last year when she spoke against removing an anti-sodomy law from the state's books.

Jon Powell, a leader of the coalition's Hutchinson branch, voiced support for Bishop's candidacy, saying he didn't reveal that he was gay until he was in his 40s because he worked for a conservative company and feared reprisals.

"It's time to start planning Jan Pauls’ retirement party," he told the crowd. "It's time for some progressive leadership in Kansas."

Bishop said he told the crowd about his father's involvement with the Klan in part because he wants people to know that being gay isn’t a choice — it is a state of being that spurred him to reject the Klan's rhetoric.

"I'm grateful I am because I wouldn't hold the values I do today if not for that," he said.